Adversaries versus partners: Urban water supply in the Philippines

Pacific Affairs

Volumn 84, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 245-265

  Neville, Kate J ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Contractual arrangements; Philippines; Private sector participation; Public private partnerships; Urban water

Indexed keywords

CIVIL SOCIETY; COMPARATIVE STUDY; GOVERNANCE APPROACH; NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION; PRIVATE SECTOR; PRIVATIZATION; PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP; URBAN AREA; WATER MANAGEMENT; WATER SUPPLY;

MANILA; NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION; PHILIPPINES;

EID: 79958846576     PISSN: 0030851X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5509/2011842245     Document Type: Article

References (115)

1. Although there was not ubiquitous support for the PPPs even at the outset, there was enthusiasm in the government and parts of the international community for private sector participation in urban infrastructure and services.
2. It also undermined the government's aim of strengthening its image as a respected centre of authority, failing to achieve what Shatkin identifes as one of the aims of urban planning, where he argues "urban planning in Metro Manila has at various junctures refected the efforts of political actors at the national level to legitimize their rule...
3. Gavin Shatkin, Colonial Capital, Modernist Capital, Global Capital: The Changing Political Symbolism of Urban Space in Metro Manila, the Philippines," Pacifc Affairs 78, no. 4 (2005/2006): 579.
4. All interviews cited in this paper, unless otherwise indicated, were conducted in person by the author, in Manila. Interviewees were initially contacted by email or phone, to set up these meetings. Some interviews were tape-recorded, but for most, the author took notes by hand during discussions. For each citation, the sector of the person interviewed is indicated. The author's advisor knew some of the participants in government and the private sector at the time of the privatization arrangements, and so initial contacts were made through this link. Further contacts were found through the snowball method, or identified through government, company and NGO websites. Given the sensitivity of some of the information, and to protect confidentiality, interviewees have not been identified.
5. As Tim Büthe argues, narratives should be taken seriously within political analyses, since recognizing the temporality of processes can provide insight into events and outcomes.
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8. This was part of the "fundamental restructuring of [major East and Southeast Asian cities'] built environment[s] in the form of mega-projects to reconstitute the urban core..." discussed.
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10. The city was divided into two zones to counter the potential opportunistic behaviour associated with monopoly arrangements of a single water provider. This approach induced indirect and artificial competition between the two providers, by creating side-by-side comparisons by which the companies could be judged.
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55. Private company, interview, 8 June 2006, Manila, Philippines.
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58. Xun and Malaluan, "A Tale of Two Concessionaires," 2008.
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61. NGO, interview, 5 June 2006, Manila, Philippines.
62. NGO, interview, 16 May 2006, Manila, Philippines.
63. International organization, interview, 17 May 2006, Manila, Philippines.
64. NGO, interview, 16 May 2006, Manila, Philippines.
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67. NGO, interview, 16 May 2006, Manila, Philippines.
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84. Listed by a participant at a conference held by the Asian Development Bank in Manila, 31 May 2006. These risks are echoed in Seungho Lee's analysis of the Chinese water market, "Development of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Projects in the Chinese Water Sector," Water Resource Management 24 (2010): 1925-1945.
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90. Greener's article aims to clarify and develop a more "coherent framework" (62) for the concept of path dependence.
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93. Government, interview, 8 June 2006, Manila, Philippines.
94. International organization, interview, 17 May 2006, Manila, Philippines.
95. Government, interview, 8 June 2006, Manila, Philippines.
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98. Paul L. Younger, "Pro-poor Water Technologies Working Both Ways: Lessons from a Two-way, South-North Interchange," Geoforum 38 (2007): 836.
99. Younger, Pro-poor Water Technologies Working Both Ways, 837.
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101. Government, interview, 8 June 2006, Manila, Philippines.
102. NGO, interview, 16 May 2006, Manila, Philippines.
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108. Govind Gopakumar, "Transforming water supply regimes in India: Do public-private partnerships have a role to play?" Water Alternatives 3, no. 3 (2010): 492-511.
109. In his analysis, Gopakumar documents the resistance to private sector involvement in water and sanitation in Chennai, its abandonment in Bengaluru, and its weakening in Kochi, based on entrenched political power, anti- privatization campaigns, and civil society resistance, respectively.
110. Susan Spronk, "Roots of Resistance to Urban Water Privatization in Bolivia: The 'New Working Class,' the Crisis of Neoliberalism, and Public Services," International Labor and Working-Class History 71 (2007): 8-28.
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112. Private sector withdrawals have been seen for various reasons, with one example in China attributed to the removal of guaranteed rates of return by the government, leading to the withdrawal of Thames Water from Shanghai in 2004.
113. Lee, Development of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Projects, 2010, 1934. However, Lee also notes that private company involvement by a number of MNCs, including Suez and Veolia, continues in some Chinese cities.
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115. Karen Bakker, "Trickle Down? Private Sector Participation and the Pro-poor Water Supply Debate in Jakarta, Indonesia," Geoforum 38 (2007): 855-868.